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luds's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
tessyoung's review against another edition
4.0
A slim volume of 3 short stories exploring the senses I really enjoyed this, especially the first story for which the collection is named. Written in 1982, the story focusses on taste and the comments on how we know and 'digest' the places we visit through eating the foods which encapsulate the flora, fauna and culture and practice of place, particularly prescient in an age of 'gastro-tourism'. Envisaged as part of a larger collection never realised due to Calvino's death, I also liked the notes on framing at the end of the book really interesting.
james2529's review against another edition
4.0
Three short stories, each describing a different sense - smell, hearing and taste. Each totally wild and offbeat in their own ways, this is a wildly entertaining book.
Easily the best story is The Name, The Nose, which in less than 20 pages takes us through the whole human experience of smell, jumping between different experiences of the sense. It is a wonderful rollercoaster ride, entirely masterful in evoking our most primal emotions through smell.
Easily the best story is The Name, The Nose, which in less than 20 pages takes us through the whole human experience of smell, jumping between different experiences of the sense. It is a wonderful rollercoaster ride, entirely masterful in evoking our most primal emotions through smell.
carissatridina's review against another edition
4.0
This was my introduction to Calvino. And wow what an introduction. Rarely do I find writing on paper (on senses) so descriptive that it seeps into my (actual) senses. So vivid and so, so good.
Calvino count: 1st!
Calvino count: 1st!
manda2491's review against another edition
4.0
Calvino enchants the reader with three short stories based on taste, hearing, and smell titled "Under the Jaguar Sun," "A King Listens," and "The Name. The Nose" respectively. Though published posthumously and originally intended to be a book encompassing all five of the senses, the trio of stories provides rich narrative self-contained in each though more potent in combination. Each story discreetly links the senses with the past, lust, and mortality in flourishing description and haunting juxtapositions. In a mere 81 pages, Calvino invites the reader to consider his or her own sensory powers in relation to biology, anthropology, and psychology.
scarletohhara's review against another edition
2.0
I swayed between 2.5 and 3 and decided to go with 2 for this book. I read a reference to this book in a article about cilantro, the article spoke about this book being something about a couple getting together via eating...
The treatment of the story is rather strange , in this book the protagonists think about eating each other as a way to show love. This is novel, but the story itself could've had some meat (pun intended, read the book and u'll know why).
The treatment of the story is rather strange , in this book the protagonists think about eating each other as a way to show love. This is novel, but the story itself could've had some meat (pun intended, read the book and u'll know why).
steve_urick's review against another edition
3.0
I love Calvino's later works, so I had high hopes for this. It does feel unfinished, and the third story really did less than nothing for me...
mazloum's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, short as it was. Calvino really was a master of the tactile and the surreal. The stories here really make you feel like you could hear/taste/smell the things his characters were experiencing in each of those stories. I wish we got to see what else he would've created.